The Black Flight
by mysterious victoria
Summary: Not much is known about Regulus; especially his personal life. All we know is what he did with Voldemort and how he changed the course of his power, but his personal life is about to be revealed with some romance. Co-written with A Girl Called Tenessee!
1. Vanessa Pennington

**Disclaimer: We (mysterious victoria and A Girl Called Tennessee) own absolutely squat that is related to Harry Potter and JK Rowling's world! We do however, own all of our made-up characters. :)**

**A/N: OMG - it's almost Christmas!!! We also basically inter-weaved the story with our ideas put into one POV, so, we both wrote the chapters because there is a mix of both mine and A Girl Called Tennessee's writing.**

**The Black Flight **

An owl black as the night was flying in, ruffled its feathers and swooped from its perch on the top of the tallest pine tree, that sat in front of Vanessa's shack that she called a house, well she would call it a house for the time until her lover returned, to her bedroom window and tapped the glass eagerly. Vanessa sat straight up in bed; she had been expecting the owl. She had been expecting it for almost a week. She jumped from her resting spot her feet catching in the thick winter blankets and knocking her down, but she got up as if it hadn't happened and ran to unlatch the window.

The owl flew in with the addition of a cold blast of snow and wind. It stretched out its leg for her to take the message off, but it was hardly what she had expected. It was a small scrap of torn paper bearing only the short sentence, "I took it, but I don't know how far I'll get." She frowned at the piece of paper, sat down, and read it over and over again. It didn't make sense, absolutely none. Vanessa shook her head. She massaged her head and tried to think of what he meant by that. What was it? How far was he going? Where was he going to? Yet, she read it one more time. It finally made sense; she knew what the it was and his situation now. That alone was enough to scare her.

"Why did you have to do with Regulus? Why on earth did you have to do _this_?" Vanessa muttered to herself while forcefully putting on her gloves. Of course, that depended if you counted them as gloves. They had no finger protection whatsoever; they only covered the backs of her hands and her palms, acting less than a protection as possible as the owl nipped her finger to hurry her along with writing a reply. "I'm not replying!" she scowled opening its cage, and it puffed its feathers angrily and walked in, eyeing her not unlike it did to Regulus when he tried to send it out into the storm a few nights ago. "Miserable bird," she said locking the cage while pulling on her winter coat.

Vanessa's amber-green eyes flashed as she opened the door and ran into the snow that came to her knees and soaked her jeans through. It was her eyes that Regulus had been attracted to in the first place, and she'd quicker gouge them out before never being able to hear the sound of his voice again.

She had been in Ravenclaw, never expecting to snag the heart of a Slytherin as she walked to Care of Magical Creatures that early spring morning. She'd always been around, but he had never noticed her before that. Strange that it took almost five years for him to finally pick up on someone that he would love for the rest of his short life. His friends had said he went into sort of a trance as he gazed up the green lawn of the grounds and up to where the quiet girl whom no one had heard much out of her, had just emerged from the bridge, with a heavy sack of books hung over her shoulder.

"Do you t-think she needs help?" Regulus muttered, the words dribbling off his tongue like he couldn't form them properly. His friends shrugged and went on trying to engage him in conversation, but he wasn't listening. His black eyes fixed on the young woman. "I bet she does, I'll be . . . back . . . just wait a minute," he said practically throwing his books and bag at his friends and knocking one over, and then taking off up the hill to where she stood. "Hey, do you need some help with these?" Regulus asked, coming right up to her. The young woman with exceedingly long, curly, black hair looked up at him. She had recognized him before; she had been in plenty of his classes. She hesitated on answering though for she knew he was a Slytherin. Regulus, however, could not tear away from her eyes that he seemed to be pulling him like a magnet.  
"Um, okay, thanks," she finally answered looking downward, rather shyly. Regulus came over to her other side where her sack was slung over her shoulder. She opened up the sack a little clumsily as she handed Regulus her rather small (compared to her other books) Charms book, and her slightly larger Arithmancy book. Regulus took them gladly, and the two started walking down the hill.

"So . . . where're you headed?" Regulus asked, thinking of some type of conversation to make the walk less awkward.

"Care of Magical Creatures." she replied quietly, still not looking at him.

"Oh, I have that class next too. You're in my class aren't you?" Regulus asked a little shocked he didn't even notice this before. She nodded in response. He realized that was bad move to make because she probably knew that they were in the same class, so he cleared his throat. "Well, I don't know if you know me, but I'm Regulus Black." He held out his hand for her to shake. She looked up at him, a little surprised by his notion. Yet, after a hesitation, she extended her hand and shook his.

"Vanessa. Vanessa Pennington." Vanessa said with a small smile. Regulus, rather quickly, retrieved his bag and books from the tree where he and his friends once were. His friends had gone to their classes already, which was what Regulus had hoped for. The two continued in some animated small talk as they walked down the somewhat steep, green hill, but that ceased once they came into the green house.

"Regulus," called one of his friends, in a where-the-heck-did-you-go tone, and motioned to the seat beside him.

He opened his mouth but nothing came out, so he pointed to Vanessa like she was an excuse why he wouldn't be sitting over there, then walked her to a seat near the back like she was a small child, or a blind pedestrian, purposely not walking to get his bag so they would be forced to share a book.

"Yeah, this was a smooth move on his part," thought Vanessa sloshing through the muddy soil on the path to Hogsmeade, "But there was that time where he was less than smooth, he was more like cute as he fell down the stairs into the Great Hall, but maybe that was here fault."

It had started about a week before the Christmas Ball in their sixth year; Vanessa racked her brain to remember what she had been saying to her boyfriend when he walked up.

"Hi, hi," Regulus panted wiping his brow and then waving a hand at the boy she was with, "You mind?" he said.

The boy named Ian looked disturbed by this, and by the fact that the person who had just interrupted him was wearing green robes.

"What?" Ian asked moving in front of Vanessa slightly.

"I told you to–" Regulus began, but was cut off by Vanessa.

"I'm thirsty," she said quickly.

"What?" her boyfriend asked caught off guard by this.

"I'm parched, can you get me something to drink, and I bet breakfast's still going on."

"I-I, fine . . ." Ian said shooting a look at Regulus and walking down the stairs.

"What are you doing?" she scowled after he was out of earshot looking down slightly at his face. At this point she was somewhat taller than him, but he hadn't started to grow yet.

"I just wanted to talk," he said pulling her aside.

"We did talk, don't you remember?"

"Okay, after the break-up talk, there has to be a get-back-together talk," he pleaded.

"I . . . I don't know. I'm not just about to go and break-up with my boyfriend just because you're lonely."

"But, I'm not lonely," he said before he could think about it.

She rolled her eyes and sighed, "Then why are you here?"

He hesitated and mumbled, "Maybe a little." She raised an eyebrow. "I am, and I miss you . . . really I do, would it help if I said sorry?" he said looking at his feet.

She bit her lip and smiled, "It might."

"Well then," he said leaning upward and kissing her on the cheek, "I'm sorry."

She blushed a violent shade of red, and sighed, "Apology accepted."

"Does this mean I can take you to the ball?"

"I think it does . . ." she said trying to shake the color from her face, "But what about–"

"I'll handle it," Regulus smiled walking up the stairs; Vanessa knew this wouldn't end very well.

Vanessa let a smile cross her face as she shook her head. It ended up going better than she had expected to say the very least. The two boys had argued, but Regulus had managed to handle it before any physical action went on. Later though, he mentioned to Vanessa that he had threatened him so badly that he had turned a sickly pale and ran from his sight. It was like him, of course. Only a week later the Christmas Ball had occurred. "What a night that was," Vanessa muttered chuckling to herself.

"For the love of Salazar, where _is_ she?" Regulus asked running a hand through his hair while pacing in a little circle. Vanessa was never late. It was rare if she was, and right now, Regulus was becoming more worried by the second because it was only three minutes past the time Vanessa had asked Regulus to meet her. He looked worriedly back up the staircase and saw no Vanessa. Regulus went to start pacing again, but his eyes caught a glimpse of a familiar silhouette. Vanessa soon came in his sight. She was dressed in a navy blue, sleeveless gown that reached her ankles. Her dress sparkled in the dimmed light near the entrance to the Great Hall. Her curly hair was now perfectly straight and sleek which totally blew Regulus's mind. Despite the fact that he thought she was pretty to begin with, but he had never seen her this radiant with her attire, accessories and make-up. She never put on make-up before. Her diamond earrings also glittered, which made Vanessa all the more entrancing. Regulus leaned off of the wall and went up to her, still completely awestruck.

"Hi Regulus," Vanessa greeted with a warm smile.

"You look absolutely beautiful Vanessa, I-I can't even describe it in words." Regulus said quite quickly. Vanessa's cheeks turned a vibrant red very quickly.

"Thank you," Vanessa said quietly.

"Shall we?" Regulus said, holding out his arm for her to link. Vanessa turned an even brighter red while nodding.

The two went in and managed to get through the crowd towards the front, near the floor. The music started playing; the two were attentively and curiously watching the teachers dance across the floor like they had been dancing for years. Soon enough, students hesitantly made their way to the floor. So Regulus took his chance.

"Hey Vanessa, let's go." Regulus said with a smile, tugging her forward.

"No! Regulus – wait a minute!" Vanessa pleaded quietly but desperately. Regulus and Vanessa walked out onto the floor. The two went into the dance position and started dancing. Vanessa and Regulus started switching hands, feeling a little nervous at first by the touches of their hands. However, they started to relax as they continued to look at each other, especially Regulus. As the rest of the students filed out onto the floor, the music became a little faster and more upbeat despite its classical sound. Regulus had looked around to copy something off another guy because he wanted to impress Vanessa. He didn't want to let go of her anytime soon to that Ian. So, like most of the boys, if not all of the boys, who lifted their dates up in the air, Regulus did as well.

"Regulus! Merlin!" Vanessa exclaimed as she was set down. The two started spinning and doing some different dance steps. Regulus whispered with a small smile crossing his lips,

"Don't worry. I would never let you go." Vanessa flushed a bright red with a shy smile, but she quickly shook off her flush and continued to focus on _not _messing up her dance moves. A band that neither of them had heard of, although the group was a recent and new band, had taken the stage. They started dancing to their music, having a fantastic time letting loose their own dance moves. After four songs, Regulus and Vanessa finally decided that they danced enough for a little while and went to go get drinks.

"Here you go my love," Regulus said handing a sitting Vanessa some punch.

"Thanks," Vanessa said as Regulus sat down next to her.

"You know, three years ago, I never thought I'd be where I am right now." Regulus said as he put his arm around Vanessa's shoulders and held her close.

"I suppose I should take that as a compliment?" Vanessa asked a little confused as to why he said that then.

"Huge." Regulus replied with a smile. Vanessa looked at him, and she smiled back.

"Having fun with him are you Vanessa?" Regulus stood up and turned around violently.

"What's your problem?" Regulus sneered deadly. "I told you to stay away from her."

"Regulus, please, you don't need to–"

"Yeah, I do, just don't worry about it." Regulus tried to assure Vanessa calmly. Of course, it did not any good, but Regulus turned back to her former boyfriend, "Ian." She noticed that every bit of rancor and hatred he had inside of him spilled out with that word although Ian didn't know it, "Let's take a walk." Vanessa sat down in her seat and nervously took a sip of her drink while watching the two boys closely over her shoulder. They had started talking, and Vanessa had an assumption that they were talking about her. Vanessa quickly got up from her seat to walk over there. She was curious enough as it was, but she wasn't too sure that she wanted to hear any of that conversation when she heard Ian say,

"You know, Vanessa, good to have as a girlfriend. Very easily manipulated, for at least two months, had her believing that you were a player like your brother. And oh boy is she fun to mess around with, if you get what I mean," Vanessa was more than shocked. She was upset and angry at the same time. Regulus flared up and threw a punch, which sent Ian flying.

"Regulus!" Vanessa held back his arm from throwing another punch at Ian who was now on the floor, clutching his nose.

"Why did you do that for?" Ian asked although it sounded a little deranged and muffled because he was holding his nose.

"Because I simply don't like you. Disgusting piece of filth . . . . Let's go Vanessa," The two of them linked hands, leaving a well beyond shocked Ian on the floor. Vanessa, still hearing Ian's words, turned away from Regulus, trying not to cry as they came into the hallway. "Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Regulus turned her to face him again, and she was on the verge of tears. Her eyes glistened brightly. "What's wrong? Why are you upset?"

"W-what Ian said a-about me," Vanessa muttered, trying not to cry.

"Oh, don't worry about what he says," Regulus said hugging Vanessa comfortingly. "He's a piece of crap, and he does not even deserve to walk this earth to say something like that about you."

"Really?" Vanessa said looking at him.

"Yeah," Regulus said. The two looked into each other's eyes for a moment as Regulus started to lean in towards Vanessa. Due to Vanessa's long dress however, when Regulus stepped forward, he tripped and fell down. Vanessa unable to contain her laughter, started to laugh out loud.

"Regulus," She helped him up, and Regulus looked rather embarrassed with a bit of redness in his face.

"Thanks," Regulus muttered.

"No problem, let's go dance. It's the last dance of the night."

Vanessa's arms wrapped around Regulus's neck loosely, and Regulus's hands were on her waist. Vanessa head rested upon Regulus's shoulder. Regulus was in the same position; they left no space between each other. They didn't care; they felt too wonderful and safe with each other. Hence, they started dating again after that night.

**So, I (mysterious victoria) haven't been on in ages, but I hope you'll forgive me. The next chapter will be posted up next week. We both love reviews! Lurking, favs, alerts and subscriptions are silver, but reviewing is gold! :)**

**~ Mysterious Victoria **


	2. It's Too Late

**Disclaimer: We (mysterious victoria and A Girl Called Tennessee) own absolutely squat that is related to Harry Potter and JK Rowling's world! We do however, own all of our made-up characters. :)**

**A/N: We also basically inter-weaved the story with our ideas put into one POV, so, we both wrote the chapters because there is a mix of both mine and A Girl Called Tennessee's writing.**

**The Black Flight **

Vanessa laughed quietly while trudging up a light hill into an alley. She heard footsteps other than her own, and she stopped, quite afraid. She turned around to see a couple different black whiffs of smoke past by her which soon became people.

"Well, isn't Vanessa Pennington, what a pleasure to see you again." Vanessa knew that voice all too well. That voice belonged to Severus Snape.

She jumped and spun on her heals to look at the end of the dark passage between the buildings.

She gasped, "You scared me."

"No doubt," he muttered walking towards her, "Where's your 'honey'?"

"Who?" she asked, hopefully doing a good job at playing dumb.

"Regulus? Don't you remember?"

"Oh, Regulus . . . he's not with you?"

"Why would he be with me?" he asked coldly.

"Because you're the same," Vanessa said with question in her voice.

"Not so much," he hissed angrily.

Snape simply disliked Regulus because of his older brother, Sirius, although he had never done anything to the unhappy shut-in. Vanessa only knew him through Regulus, but that was enough, but he would often get on both Regulus's and her nerves.

Like once when there had been a simple date night at Hogsmeade, fifty percent off at the Three Broomsticks if you came as a couple. Regulus had taken her and had found a table faraway from his older brother, sitting with that week's "lucky" girl. Everything had been going smoothly until Snape had showed up with his eyes darting every which way for Sirius's friend's girlfriend.

"Well, I was wondering if you had a date, but I can see that you don't," Snape smiled looking at Vanessa while walking by their table.

"I'm her date," scowled Regulus, narrowing his eyes.

"Oh Regulus, I didn't see you there, must have looked right over your head," Snape smirked. Regulus's ears turned a striking shade of pink, and he looked at his feet, as opposed to fighting back.

"Why are you here?" Vanessa asked, "Shouldn't you be off wooing a certain red head?" He sputtered in anger and replied opened his mouth to reply, but she cut him off, "At least Regulus could find a date."

"More like a pathetic excuse for one." Regulus opened his mouth to respond before discovering Vanessa could very much fend for herself.

"You know what? I'd love to have a battle of wits with you, but you seem unprepared, oh wait, that's just that way you always look. Do us all the favor, and crawl out of here, you unloved hermit," Vanessa scowled, maybe taking it a bit too far, actually most likely taking it a bit too far. But at least it worked as Snape stormed off. "See, I can be mean when I want to," she smiled at Regulus, who returned the smile and put his arm around her, but suddenly removed it as if in pain. He bit his lip to prevent from yelping and stood up so quickly, he knocked his chair over. "What? What's wrong?" she asked looking alarmed and too standing.

"I-I . . . need to go," he replied clutching his forearm.

"Why, we didn't get our last dance."

"I . . . I just need to, you wouldn't understand."

"What? What wouldn't I understand?!"

"You just wouldn't get it, I need to leave," he shouted over his shoulder and running out onto the road. She scowled to hide her broken heart as she turned to go back up the stairs into the pub, and was suddenly spun around and leaned back into a dip, being kissed by Regulus, whom then stood her back up and mouthed, "Sorry," then ran back out.

Vanessa seemed star struck as she let out a tiny giggle and sat down while twirling her hair and stroking the table like it was a fine animal that needed grooming; she would sit like this far into the night, waiting for him to come back. He didn't return until the next morning, but when he did, she would be asleep in bed, back at Hogwarts.

That was the first time he had ever kissed her, but now wasn't the time for reminiscing, she had learned only a few weeks later that he was a Death Eater. Snape snapped his fingers in front of her face and repeated himself, "We're not much alike."

"What?" she asked.

"He left a few days ago; no one knows where he went."

Vanessa's mouth dropped open, "He what?"

"You heard me."

"Alright . . . well then why are you here?"

"Because I knew you would be; I'm taking you to the Dark Lord," he smirked catching her around the neck with his wand pointed at her head. Vanessa turned around, and Snape grabbed her arm forcefully. He made the two Apparate fairly quickly. Soon enough, Vanessa was surrounded and consumed in her worst nightmare because before, tall and deadly, was Lord Voldemort.

"Here master, Black's lover," Snape said, throwing her to the ground. Vanessa fell to her knees and then looked up at the cloaked monster. She was trembling on the inside, but she had learned over the years to hide her emotions for the most part. "The mudblood, Vanessa Pennington,"

"Hello my dear," Lord Voldemort greeted, his voice icy and high, "As you are probably aware, your significant other has gone missing."

"Only just discovered," Vanessa said. Voldemort came towards her and brought her face upward to meet his eyes. Vanessa started to wince in pain as Voldemort kept her face forcefully looking at him.

"Why don't you tell me where he is?"

* * *

Sirius had just settled down on the couch ready to fall asleep when an anxious knocking came at the door. Maybe it was just the storm, but then it came again. Who was trying to get in at this time of the, Sirius glanced at the clock, one A.M., morning . . . . He rolled his eyes and groaned, slouching farther in his chair. Maybe if he pretending he wasn't here they would just leave him alone.

The knocking came again, this time with a voice, calling his name hoarsely and desperate sounding. Sirius perked up in his chair and hesitated in shock, too long, the knocking returned his to his ears.

He sprung from his chair and ran to the door, taking a few seconds to unlatch the many locks as the knocking continued.

"Hold on a second mate!" he shouted in a voice that would probably wake the rest of the Order that were sleeping upstairs, "You're the reason these locks are here!"

"Please, let me in!" yelled the voice, as Sirius unhooked the last lock, and a sorry excuse for a human being fell in the doorway and lay on the floor motionless in front of his older brother. He was shivering cold, and his black hair was soaked and matted, and his eyes were glazed over and sad looking.

"A-are you alright?" Sirius muttered as the figure stirred and coughed then looked up at his sibling.

"N-no . . . I need your help . . . please?" Regulus asked, still shaking.

". . . Well that depends, what do you need help with," Sirius smiled, hardly a pleasing response, although expected, "Just sit," he said pushing him down in a living room chair and throwing a blanket at him, "Want some tea?"

Regulus nodded and pulled the blanket up to his chin.

"So, eighteen and a Death Eater?" Sirius said reentering the room and pushing a cup of hot tea into his brother's hands.

"Twenty and part of the Order?" he replied coldly.

"Least I'm on the good side," Sirius said hoping to get a nasty comeback so he could keep this going. There was nothing that he wanted more than to rub it in his brother's face. He deserved this; he was a Death Eater.

"You're right."

"Well . . . I'm right? I mean, of course I'm right."

". . . I need help, I was going to take the Horcrux, the locket, I'm going to steal it."

"What?! You can't do that!" Sirius exclaimed, even he didn't want to see his brother go down like that.

"I have too, but . . . there's something else, I've come to the wrong person . . ."

"What?"

"It's Vanessa, I think I've put her in terrible danger . . . the Dark Lord could find her . . ."

"You still on about that girl?" Sirius smirked.

"I love her, but you wouldn't know anything about that would you?!" Regulus scowled.

"I would too!"

"I meant give love, not make it."

Sirius was becoming irritable very quickly, but found it in himself to calm down even for just a second, "What's going on?"

"I want to spend the rest of my life with her, even if it's just a short time, and if stealing the Horcrux means keeping her safe, I'll do it," he said looking into his cup sorrowfully.

"Can't help you in that department, but I can help with defeating Voldemort."

"I got in too deep, I thought that this would be the best thing for me, thought I could become powerful, and she'd be happy. But she doesn't want power, I'm stupid to just be realizing that now." Regulus said.

"Alright, I'm in," His older brother smiled standing up and tromping up the stairs to wake the others. Regulus was, for once, quite glad he came to his brother for help. Sooner than Regulus had expected, James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and two other men, looked pretty similar, probably twins, had come down the stairs. "So, Regulus, do you have any idea where the others might be?"

Regulus nodded and answered, "There's a hideout place, if that's what you're asking. If they're still there is another question entirely. The only reason the Order has found us yet is because we . . . I mean the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord are constantly changing locations for protection."

"Let _me_ cut right to the chase," James Potter cut in, sounding a little angry and grumpy, "can you lead us to this place?" Regulus shrugged.

"Yeah, but not now; they'd most likely be expecting a night attack. They always do." Regulus explained, "And, you guys are going to have get more people because none of you would last with the amount of Death Eaters the Dark Lord has."

"Well, we did figure that one," one of the twins said indignantly.

"Watch it Fabian." Sirius hissed, glaring at the man Fabian. Fabian rolled his eyes and massaged his forehead, probably not being woken up at this hour.

"Should we alert Dumbledore now or in the morning?" Remus asked.

"Right now would be good Remus; I'll come with you." the other twin responded as the two went back up the stairs.

"Night Gideon," Fabian replied to his twin.

"Night," Gideon called back to him before he and Remus Apparated.

James Potter did not take his eyes off of the younger Black, still not quite sure of him. Sure, it was nice that he was trying to help the Order instead of the Death Eaters, but was that really true? He wished he could say or believe that Regulus was coming over to the good side, but James couldn't find any good or plausible reason. He had heard of what Regulus had done while he was at home from Sirius while they were still in school. That was enough to convince James that he couldn't be trusted because Regulus had now taken the next step forward.

Regulus knew what James was thinking all too well, but it didn't surprise him. He knew that Sirius had talked about how badly he was treated at home, and how his parents loved him more than Sirius despite that fact that Regulus was younger. Yet, honestly, Regulus would have done the same thing if he was in the other side of the situation at hand. Regulus then winced at a stab of pain coming from his head. The pain accumulated, and the pain was spreading. Regulus knew what was happening, and he knew that this wasn't good. Sirius noticed fairly quickly and asked,

"Regulus? You alright?" Regulus's eyes clamped shut, and he fell down. Sirius and James quickly tried to revive him, and Regulus's eyes shot open. They were wide and afraid. Little did they know, he was seeing a nightmare come alive in his thoughts:

"I'm going to ask you one more time. Where is Regulus?" a cold voice he recognized as the Dark Lord Voldemort ask.

"I swear, I have no idea where he is! I didn't even know that he disappeared until today! I thought he was just hiding with you!" Vanessa cried. Voldemort nodded to someone in the crowd who shot a spell at her. She started yelling and twisting in pain at the red light hitting her body. About a minute later, the spell was lifted, and Vanessa fell onto her back, breathing heavily. Her eyes were tightened, and she clutched her stomach, rolling onto her side.

"Do you know, that when a person is exposed to this curse for over a minute and a half Miss Pennington, that this person could and most likely does go mentally insane?" Vanessa looked at Voldemort, already knowing this, "But did you also know, that this person could _die _from the pain?" Vanessa's eyes widened in total horror. The devilish smile Regulus was used to seeing crossed the Dark Lord's face.

Regulus shot up as the vision disappeared from him. He had paled immensely, and he was almost shaking in fear.

"Regulus? Regulus? What happened?" Sirius asked nervously, shaking his little brother by the shoulder.

". . . It's him, they've got Vanessa, they were-were torturing her . . . for information," Regulus panted out before he ran his hands through and cursed aloud. He held his face in his hands in despair.

**The next chapter will be posted up next week. We both love reviews! Lurking, favs, alerts and subscriptions are silver, but reviewing is gold! :)**

**~ Mysterious Victoria **


	3. Time to Act

**Disclaimer: We (mysterious victoria and A Girl Called Tennessee) own absolutely squat that is related to Harry Potter and JK Rowling's world! We do however, own all of our made-up characters. :)**

**A/N: We also basically inter-weaved the story with our ideas put into one POV, so, we both wrote the chapters because there is a mix of both mine and A Girl Called Tennessee's writing.**

**The Black Flight **

"Regulus, we're going tomorrow morning. She'll be fine." Sirius assured him, but that gave Regulus no comfort. James came down the stairs with Remus.

"Dumbledore did a couple things, and we're going tomorrow before seven. You up for it?" James asked. Sirius nodded, but looked at Regulus who was quite unsure.

"Yeah," Regulus breathed with a sigh as he got up.

"You need rest." Sirius said as he sat his little brother on the couch. "Get some sleep." Regulus nodded and took the blanket and covered himself with it while his brother and his friends went upstairs.

Regulus's worry was mounting fairly quickly in his chest; he needed to make sure Vanessa was okay. But he couldn't stand to wait until then – it was six hours away! He wouldn't be able to live with himself if something happened to her. Especially now because he had gotten into some serious business, and the consequences would not be good at all. He just hoped that by then, she would still be alive. Regulus tucked the blankets close to chin and shuddered.

Vanessa lay on her side, watching the blood flow from her nose like someone had turned on a faucet. It ran down her face, past her, slightly open mouth and onto the floor where it crusted in her hair and on the tiles she lay upon. She shuddered at the thought of the tears that had now joined the blood and ran into her cuts causing them to sting and burn. She wanted to be home, more than anything in the world she wanted to be home, with her tattered blankets, and flickering lamps, the old smell of the wood that just barely kept the elements out, that screeching owl that kept her up for most of the night.

She took a deep breath and tried to pull her hands from her stomach, but somehow couldn't find the strength to do it. She wished Regulus was here, she die with the secret and taking another's life as she went. But she didn't want him to be here, if he showed up to save her, he would die, and that was the last thing she wanted.

She closed her eyes slightly and thought about it, if she offered up the life of her unborn children as servants of the Dark Lord, they would let them live, even if she didn't, that would be enough. No . . . no, it wouldn't be; the same fate would come upon them as her and their father. But if she didn't say anything they would be killed before beginning to live.

Her only hope was Regulus showing up, not for herself, if this only concerned herself she would die first, yes, she would die before letting Regulus die. But that was because she knew he'd do the same for her.

Would he be mad at her for not telling him, after all she was only eighteen, and she had just turned eighteen a few months ago? He was only eighteen, but older than her. They were young, too young to have a child, let alone twins, that decided their full future. He hadn't seen her in over three months, wow what a shock that would be, already a matter of weeks away from giving birth. She should have told him; it wasn't fair to keep something this epic from her children's own father.

"No," Vanessa said quietly to herself, "I'm not going to sit around feeling sorry for myself; I've got to get out of here."

She ripped her hair dried to her cheek with blood off her face and lifted herself up. She needed a plan.

Putting her forehead in her hand for a second to think while looking around at the room she was locked in, it didn't look much like a room you'd find in a Death Eater hideaway, but then again the typical Death Eater hideaway was not in a closed down muggle drycleaners. But for being closed down it looked like it had once been very large and successful business, maybe there had been some sort of take over, although that seemed unlikely, meaning why would a hoard of Death Eaters take over a drycleaners? It didn't matter though. Well Voldemort wasn't here, he had gone to the real hideout after last night, but she had a feeling he'd comeback.

She thought of why they might be here as she pulled black sheets from the shelves and then began looking through trunks and boxes for something that could act as a mask, finally coming across something that she wasn't sure what it was. It might have actually been a Death Eater mask, but she wasn't sure as she snapped it on and pulled the black sheet over her self like a cloak, and then went searching for something that would unlock the door.

She bent down and ran her hand along the ground under the shelves until her fingertip snagged on a paper clip.

"A little old fashioned, but–" she thought unbending it and wiggling around in the keyhole until she heard a small click and the door swung open.

Vanessa let out a sigh of relief as she took a cautious step into the hall and found it to be empty, so continued down it until coming to a larger room, also vacant, or for the time being.

Suddenly the door across the space from her opened and two Death Eaters emerged, freezing upon seeing her.

"Hey Bellatrix," said one with a nod.

"H-hello . . ." Vanessa responded quietly just incase her voice didn't sound anything like the woman they spoke of.

She then shifted uncomfortably as they did not move, ". . . I-I have to go now . . . goodbye."

The two parted to let her through, and as soon as the door had shut behind her broke into a sprint for the front door, and was blinded by sunlight.

She was outside! What a miracle that was, but how long would that miracle last? She needed to contact Regulus if at all possible. Voldemort had sent that vision to him; she knew that because he had taunted her about it. Regulus needed to know _not _come to that place. Even with the Order and its members, it would only put more lives at stake. She checked around her back pockets to find her wand.

It was perfect! After she was more than well away from the hideout of the Death Eaters, Vanessa could just send him a Patronus and ask him where he is! It was brilliant, but Vanessa needed to get away from them. She couldn't Apparate because what would happen if they discovered she was their missing convict; they would easily track her down. She'd go down a couple alleys and just run, run for her life. That was exactly what Vanessa did.

She casually turned an alleyway out of the eyesight of a Death Eater and started running. She took off her mask and blanket, turned a couple more alleys and streets, and then she threw them off and started running harder and faster. She continued for maybe five blocks and then hid in a very darkened and deserted alley. Vanessa took a minute and relaxed herself, and she put a hand on her stomach. She had stopped bleeding; that was good. She did a little magic to fix up her stomach and then aimed her wand out for an open yet small area.

Vanessa spoke the incantation and started her talk:

"Regulus, it's Vanessa. Don't worry about me; I'm fine. I need to know where you are, so I can explain to you what happened and what I found out. Please, don't go after me, I'm perfectly fine. Send me back a Patronus." Her mustang whinnied and took off. Vanessa smiled to herself and took a deep breath of relief.

Now, she could wait and relax, and maybe think about how to tell Regulus about their little blessings as her parents used to call it. That thought only made her tense up and worry.

Regulus woke up to sunlight shining through the curtains in his brother's living room, and he shot up in bed and started running into the kitchen where he heard some noises. He stopped at the sight of his brother and his friends, now looking at him queerly, while having breakfast.

"Regulus, relax, we're going in like a half an hour. Have something to eat," Sirius suggested calmly. Regulus was about to rant until a low growl in his stomach came. He sat down grudgingly as Sirius got him a plate.

A whooshing sound came from the living room with a familiar voice calling,

"Regulus,"

The four jumped from their seats to the living room, Regulus being the quickest,

"It's Vanessa. Don't worry about me; I'm fine. I need to know where you are, so I can explain to you what happened and what I found out. Please, don't go after me, I'm perfectly fine. Send me back a Patronus."

The four looked at each other; Regulus was more than relieved to hear Vanessa's voice. Sirius and James were a little concerned.

"Well, what are we standing around for?" Regulus said, "Let's go after her."

"Regulus . . . what happens if this is a trap?"

"You listen to it then!" Regulus cried, "She needs us, she says things like that, she needs help!"

Sirius took his wand from his pocket and pointed it at the area where the voice had come from, and it repeated itself.

"Who's 'we'?" Remus asked sipping a cup of coffee calmly.

"What?" Regulus asked sharply, causing Remus to regret his own words.

"S-she said 'we're fine' . . . who's 'we'?"

"No, she didn't . . . did she?" Remus, Sirius, and James nodded. "She's cheating on me?!" he shouted so loudly it made the three of them jump.

Then they exchanged glances and Sirius sighed, "I don't think that's it, mate."

James nodded and said, "Listen to the way she said it."

"I'm not replaying it," Sirius snapped.

"When was the last time you saw her?" asked Remus, who seemed unfazed by this news.

". . . Bout two months ago. Maybe a little longer,"

"Well . . ." said Sirius, "Congrats, can I train him?"

"Shut up!" Regulus scowled, but his face read a mixture of happiness and worry.

"I'm just saying–"

"I know what you're saying, and it has nothing to do with him."

"Could be a girl," smiled James half smirking.

"And this is why I'm not having children," sighed Remus.

"Why?" asked Regulus, whose face was now pale and was back slouching in his chair.

"Because–" he began, but James cut him off.

"We all know why you're not going to have kids," he said.

Sirius smirked, "Yeah, because he can't find a girl who sees you as anything less than a complete dork."

Remus scowled, "Because–"

"We all know the reason Moony," James said abruptly to break up the fight.

"Okay, listen," Sirius said to Regulus, but upon turning found his seat empty, "Where'd he–"

Remus pointed over his shoulder into the next room without looking up from his paper.

Regulus was already pulling on his coat and boots. "Where are you going?" asked Sirius.

"To find her."

"You can't go."

"Too late," and the door slammed behind him.

James also got up at this and pulled on his coat, along with Remus.

"Where are you going?" asked Sirius.

"With him, and so should you," they replied.

"Why?"

"Listen, you may not like him, but he's your brother, isn't there a bond or something?"

"I try and ignore it."

"Well now's not the time for that."

And the door closed again.

Vanessa sat there; she was getting a little worried. It was about ten minutes after she sent that Patronus, and there was still no reply from Regulus. She could only assume the worst, which was that Voldemort had gone after him. She tried with all of her will power to think of something good, but her mind would consciously turn it into a bad thought. She sighed and stood up as she heard a whooshing sound. To her absolute relief, Regulus's Patronus came in.

"Vanessa, you don't know how good it is for me to hear your voice again." Vanessa closed her eyes with a smile; it was nice to hear his voice again. "I'm with Sirius." That made Vanessa tense a little and open her eyes. "It sounds weird, but I took refuge at his house. Three-six-five West Harbour Street, but I'll come to you; don't go anywhere."

His Patronus vanished like dust in the wind, but Vanessa could care less about that. West Harbour Street was only minutes away! She could walk there if she wanted to, but she badly wanted to Apparate. She was about to, but realized her little children. The Mediwizard had instructed her, not to use Apparation, especially after the fifth month. He said that it could possibly hurt the babies' development if she did.

So that's what she did. She walked, but at a very brisk pace to get there a little faster. Finally she couldn't stand it any longer and broke into a sprint, and just as she was so close she could feel, someone Apparated right in front of her and the two were knocked backward.

Vanessa couldn't see who it was since her hand was over her forehead, but he must have recognized her for she was suddenly wrapped him a large hug as she got up.

She screamed and tried to push whoever it was away, but then her ears were filled with a sweet voice that she knew so well.

"Regulus," she cried falling into his arms.

"Here, here, get up," Regulus smiled talking her by the hands and helping her up, then looking her up and down. ". . . Wow . . . you look . . . pregnant . . . well no, I don't mean that, I mean that, well I just, I'm going to stop talking now."

"Yeah . . . I know," she smiled wiping the tears from her eyes and hugging him.

"How are you . . . doing?"

"Well, I'm maybe a month or two from having birth."

Regulus drew backwards slightly and looked at her again, "That's . . . that's not possible," he said, she looked a lot more than that, more like she needed to give birth right now.

". . . Well, actually it is . . . They're . . . well they're twins."

**The next chapter will be posted up next week. We both love reviews! Lurking, favs, alerts and subscriptions are silver, but reviewing is gold! :)**

**~ Mysterious Victoria **


	4. Twins, good or bad?

**Disclaimer: We (mysterious victoria and A Girl Called Tennessee) own absolutely squat that is related to Harry Potter and JK Rowling's world! We do however, own all of our made-up characters. :)**

**A/N: We also basically inter-weaved the story with our ideas put into one POV, so, we both wrote the chapters because there is a mix of both mine and A Girl Called Tennessee's writing.**

**The Black Flight **

Regulus looked just about ready to pass out as the words sank in.

"Twins . . .? Like two . . . at once?"

"That's what 'twins' means Regulus." Vanessa said with a smile.

There was a popping sound, and three people that Vanessa had never seen before were standing around them.

"Go," Regulus said to Vanessa, pointing back to the house.

"What? Where are you going?" she asked somewhat startled.

"I can't tell you, you'll follow, and I can't do that to you, or to them," he sighed preparing himself to Apparate.

"Wait!" but all four were gone. Vanessa was more then confused; she was utterly confused. Regulus and three unknown people had Apparated to a totally different place. She said an incantation to find out where they had gone, and she just continued walking. She found it little odd that they had Apparated back to the house she was heading to, but she shrugged. Vanessa continued surprisingly through the unlocked front door. She curiously peered into the living room where she could hear furious and angry voices.

"How the hell did you know where that girl was? I don't even know that spell, and I'm two and a half years older than you!"  
". . . Bellatrix."

"Bellatrix?!"

"Yeah . . . the Dark Lord taught it to his first Death Eaters . . ."

"I cannot believe this!"

"Sirius, calm down,"

"Are you even doing this to save this girl's skin? Or are you just trying to infiltrate the Order for Voldemort and then finish her off?"

"Are you really that stupid?!"

"Enough – the both of you!"

"I don't trust you in my house anymore – _get out_!"

Vanessa walked into the kitchen where Regulus was with the three men. One looked furious, one looked quite uncomfortable, and the other one was exasperated. The angry one looked up at her, and she became a little tense at his glare. Regulus turned around, and the other two looked up.

"Vanessa,"

"This is her? The freaking cow?"

"Sirius, shut up!"

"Sirius?" Vanessa was more than blown away; she was shocked at how much he had changed over two years. Sirius, now examining her current state, had paled the slightest, but noticeably. Vanessa looked at the other two, and she too recognized them now that she had gotten a better look at them. "James? Remus?"

"Hi Vanessa," James said quietly. Remus gave a nod of recognition before turning back to the argument before them. Sirius couldn't take his eyes off of Vanessa's stomach, which was still cut and scarred up, but he couldn't get over the fact that she was this pregnant.

"Vanessa, you need to get some medical help. You look terrible." Sirius finally said. He started up the stairs. "Prongs, get her to sit down! I'm getting Alice!" James looked back at Vanessa and guided her over, and now that James had a closer look, Sirius could see why he had said this. He too grew worried.

"My name's Alice Longbottom, and I'm going to–" a woman with short brown hair greeted solemnly and seriously going to Vanessa. Once she saw a glimpse of the Vanessa's face, she stopped and questioned, "Vanessa?"

"Alice?" Vanessa asked with a bewildered look on her face.

"It can't be," Alice exclaimed with a smile. The four men looked at each other queerly as the two women talked.

"Longbottom?" Vanessa said with a mischievous smile on her face.

"You were right, I know, I get it." Alice replied, rolling her eyes. Vanessa smiled wider.

"So, what's wrong with me that Sirius is getting so riled up about?" Vanessa asked. Alice shrugged.

"I'll find out in a minute." Alice said starting to examine Vanessa. Alice did a few tests . . . and then Alice looked at Vanessa seriously.

"What's wrong Alice?"

"How old are you?" she asked.

"Eighteen . . . ."

Alice bit her lip, "You're both so young."

"Only two years younger than you."

"But I'm married."

"But, we love each other."

"You're too young to know that . . . do you know what he's going to do?"

". . . No . . . what?"

"He's going to try and take down He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

"He can't do that!" she shouted standing up with her hand still on her stomach.

"He's going to, and he's going to get himself killed . . . he's thinking in the moment, and that's why I think we should just lock him up until he thinks things through."

"He doesn't do things like that, it's talk him out of it or nothing, and even that's really difficult to do."

"This is not the point!" Alice said sitting Vanessa back down again, "The point is you are going to have children. They are going to grow up without a father, and a mother involved in the Order, you can't do that to them."

"What are you telling me to do?" she scowled, "Kill them?!"

"I never said that, I only thinking that it might be better to think about giving them to some place that . . . that might be a better."

"What about you? Don't you want to have children?"

Alice hesitated, "Actually, I am going to have one."

"Ha! You see! Lily too! I bet you anything she married James!"

". . . She did . . . ."

"You see? If you and Lily can take care of a child so can I!"

"This isn't the same, you have to think about this, I'm not as involved as you are, neither is Lily, plus the fathers of our children aren't Death Eaters."

"You leave him out of this! That doesn't change anything! NOTHING!"

"Vanessa, I'm begging you! Think about someone other than yourself, and Regulus, think about children growing up ignored and frightened that their parents are on opposite side and could be killed at any moment."

"You think about a mother never knowing her children!"

"STOP thinking about yourself! Think about what's best for them!"

"I am!"

"Is that really true?" Alice said calmly turning and walking from the room.

Vanessa took in Alice's words for a moment. With a horrible revelation, she did understand and realize the gravity of her situation. It finally clicked in her head what Alice was saying to her. She placed her face in her hands and let a few tears fall.

She wiped them off quickly and sniffed. It wasn't like her to be emotional, even about situations like this. She never was; until she had become pregnant at the very least. She couldn't stand the thought of her children not having a father. Both a boy and a girl needed a father. It was irreplaceable. She didn't want her children to grow up in war. Never did . . . and she was planning to keep it that way.

Suddenly, there was a stab of pain in her stomach, to which Vanessa groaned in absolute pain as she clutched her stomach. Alice quickly looked over her shoulder and ran back to Vanessa.

"Vanessa, what's wrong? What hurts?"

"My stomach," Vanessa groaned in reply bending over farther. She gave a cry of pain that was loud enough to send the two Blacks, James and Remus along with Frank Longbottom down the flight of stairs in seconds.

"Vanessa, honey, what's wrong?" Regulus asked concernedly going to her side.

"Alice, what happened?" Sirius asked Alice seriously. Alice cursed aloud as she stopped examining Vanessa.

"She's going into labor. We need to take her to St. Mungo's – now."

"WHAT?!"

"_Now_ damnit Regulus!" Alice yelled at him furiously.

"Oh Merlin it hurts!" Vanessa yelled before giving another cry of anguish. Regulus took her, wedding style in his arms before Apparating with the five of them. Alice went ahead once they came to St. Mungo's, running through the hallways with the group not far behind.

"Dorcas!" Alice called to her loudly. Dorcas Meadowes, a Healer, quickly turned around to Alice.

"What's wrong?"

"I've got an eighteen-year-old going into labor." Alice explained out of breath. "She needs assistance now. She's having twins."

"Jonas! Olivia! Get over here now! Get a stretcher!" Dorcas called out calmly and loudly while moving to Vanessa. "I'll take her from here; is the father here?"

"Yeah," Regulus said uncomfortably.

"I'm sorry, but you have to wait here. We can't risk anything happening, so not to put pressure on her, we need to keep everyone that is close to her, away." Dorcas explained calmly while looking over the men. Regulus nodded, understanding but at the same time, raging in his body just to go run to Vanessa.

**The next chapter will be posted up next week. We both love reviews! Lurking, favs, alerts and subscriptions are silver, but reviewing is gold! :)**

**~ Mysterious Victoria **


	5. The End of Everything He Knew

**Disclaimer: We (mysterious victoria and A Girl Called Tennessee) own absolutely squat that is related to Harry Potter and JK Rowling's world! We do however, own all of our made-up characters. :)**

**A/N: We also basically inter-weaved the story with our ideas put into one POV, so, we both wrote the chapters because there is a mix of both mine and A Girl Called Tennessee's writing.**

**The Black Flight **

They worked on her for what seemed to be days, but was merely an hour. Regulus paced around and sat on and off. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if something happened to Vanessa during this pregnancy or their children. He couldn't bear any of their deaths on his conscience. He could still clearly remember every single memory, every single day, every single he minute he had spent with Vanessa. Looking back on everything those two went through together, Regulus had to excuse himself before he could let some tears spill from his eyes.

Regulus braced himself with whatever he had left in him and walked out to face the cruel possibility that he could loose all he held dear this day. He sat by his brother and his friends who gave comforts, but it didn't seem to do much of anything. Alice came out, very weary and very bloody, which Regulus didn't take as a good sign.

"Is s-she alright?" Regulus asked hesitantly. "Or the b-babies?"

"The children are fine." Regulus sighed in relief, but Alice shook her head, "Vanessa isn't though." His face dropped and paled as Sirius stood up. "She's lost a lot of blood Regulus; her having an early birth didn't help the circumstances with the torture and cuts she had." Regulus ran a shaky hand through his hair. "I'm sorry,"

"Wait, wait, w-what do you mean she had 'an early birth'; I-I thought she was nine months?"

"No, she's just eight. Maybe eight and a quarter, if you want to be specific." Alice explained seriously. "Regulus . . . there's a good chance she's not going to make it much longer," Regulus turned around, absolutely horrified.

"Can he see her Alice?" Sirius asked taking his younger brother by the shoulders as some type of comfort. Alice nodded.

"Come on," They walked into one of the rooms in the maternity ward, and Vanessa lay on the hospital bed, looking somewhat relaxed, but very pale and weak.

"Oh, Vanessa,"

"Regulus," They hugged each other tightly, but Regulus was a little more gentle due to the current situation she was in. "We have a boy and a girl," Regulus smiled, a little teary eyed and looked up at one of the Healers cleaning up their baby girl. "Alice told me what was going to happen,"

"No, you'll be fine," Regulus insisted, shaking his head. Vanessa shook hers.

"Regulus, you know I was never stupid," Vanessa said with a small smile, "I know I'm going to die."

"Don't you dare say that. You're going to be fine." Regulus argued harshly, turning away.

"I'm sorry baby, I have to." Vanessa countered as she grabbed his hand. He took hers and held it tightly. He leaned up to her, and they kissed. "Regulus, please, do me a favor. Please, give them away."

He opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out, give them . . . away? It was the best thing to do yes, but what about him?

He smiled slightly and nodded, she nodded too, and suddenly her hand slipped from his fingers and he tried desperately to grasp it again, but it had already gone, along with her life.

Regulus made a move to touch her face while a tear rolled down his face and landed on the fabric of the bed; she was gone. He wiped the tear from his eye and looked back up at a baby girl . . . but not his, not his, it couldn't be, and it would never be. A woman came around the corner at that moment holding a baby boy, who was not crying, neither was his sister; they were just staring at with large amber-green eyes and cooing gently, but the eyes were the only thing that made them look like they was related to their mother. They both had a full head of black curly hair like his.

The woman, who was now holding both children, made a move to walk over to him with the children, but he stood up abruptly and took a step towards to the door while shaking his head.

The woman hesitated as both began to cry and then walked back to where two plastic cribs were.

"Don't . . ." he said quietly, "Don't . . . take them," and he ran from the room.

"What?! What?!" Sirius smiled catching his brother before he could fall over the chair sitting in front of him.

"Get off me!" Regulus shouted pushing him away and running out the front door.

"What I do?" he said to no one in particular.

Remus shrugged and shook James awake.

"I'm up," he said quickly, then looked around to where Regulus had just run out of.

"What happened?" Remus asked Alice who had just come out of the room.

Alice bowed and shook her head, "We . . . lost her," she sighed while looking at her feet.

Sirius's face went white, ". . . W-what do you mean?"

"She's dead."

James and Remus blinked hard and then glanced at Sirius who was still in shock, and then looked back at the door where Regulus had gone through.

"I got to go talk to him," Sirius said walking through the door. Regulus was standing across the parking lot looking down into a small pond that was being swum upon by several ducks.

"What's going on?" he said putting his hand on Regulus's back; Regulus didn't move.

"I'm leaving. I'm leaving, and you can't stop me," he replied turning away still.

". . . I can advise against it."

"You don't mind if I take Kreacher do you?"

"Why would I mind? He hates me, I hate him . . . . But please don't, I don't want to loose my brother."

"I did something wrong, I need to make it right; I need to do this."

"But Regulus–"

"It's R.A.B." he said straightening up and beginning to walk away, "Make sure they find a good home . . . ."

That was the last time Sirius ever saw his brother.

"Which one's his?" James asked eagerly looking in through the window at three rows of plastic tubes each holding a sleeping child.

"That one . . . that one there," Remus replied with a smile pointing at the girl with curly black hair, "Can't you tell, just look at the hair."

"Where's the other? Where's the boy?"

"Umm . . . Look for black hair."

"What if he doesn't have black hair?"

"What are the odds of that?"

"Probably very low . . . there, there he is," James exclaimed pointing to a boy with the same black hair in a tub in the third row back corner.

"Okay, yeah I see him," Remus nodded as Sirius returned, "Look, there, one in the second row, right there in the middle, and one over there, third row, back corner."

"You're acting like you've never seen a baby before," Sirius sighed.

". . . But they're twins."

"I realize that!"

". . . So where's Regulus?"

"He left . . . he's not coming back . . . so what we need to do is take them to a muggle orphanage. If the Dark Lord found out, after what Regulus is about to do."

"What? Why? I'd never leave my child in someplace as abusive as that," said James, "We could take them in . . . maybe."

"Lily would kill you," said Remus quietly, "I could . . . ."

"You don't know a thing about parenting."

"Yeah, well . . . ."

". . . I'll take them . . . it's the least I could do," Sirius said remorsefully.

"Alright, but . . . okay fine," said James, almost hoping he could take them.

"I'll take them tomorrow," he said motioning for the two to leave.

Sirius didn't expect to see his brother again; he knew that Regulus was set on one thing, and Sirius wouldn't be able to stop him. Yet, something inside of Sirius had hoped he would, at the very least, attend Vanessa's funeral. There was a decent number, and it was most of the Order. Everyone had questioned about her boyfriend and their children, and Sirius just told them that they had died to give his younger brother some cover. Not too many knew that Regulus and Vanessa were together and about their children; those who did, however, kept quiet.

As for the twins, Sirius was indeed keeping them, but at the wake and funeral, Lily was taking care of them. He still needed to find a place to put them in permanent care, but he was close to finding somewhere. If something was to happen to him, Sirius wanted to make sure his . . . niece and nephew, were safe and out of harm's way. It still sounded weird to him that he was technically an uncle. Farther away those two were away from this, the better. That's what Sirius kept drilling into his head. Sirius and many other Orders members had now tasted some of the bitterness that was yet to come from this war.

Little did any of them know, including Sirius, that Regulus had in fact attended Vanessa's funeral. He was in the far back of the church and far back at the cemetery, by a large tree. Regulus had stayed quite solemn and strong up until the point where everyone had left, and he went over to her tombstone. Buried beside her parents, Regulus touched Vanessa's tombstone. Looking over her tombstone and seeing the date of her death, made something inside of Regulus click as if it that he was re-feeling his emotions on the day she had died.

Regulus fell to his knees and broke down. Tears poured like a faucet down his face and onto the ground which six feet down, held his lover. He looked up at the mostly clear sky and asked aloud and angrily,

"Why did you have to leave me Vanessa?" Of course, he knew the sky wasn't going to answer him, but he hoped that he would be able to hear Vanessa call to him, so he could wake up from this nightmare.

More tears streamed down his face as the silence engulfed around him. He stood up and continued to look on her grave. After numerous hesitations, he turned around and ran out of the graveyard for the Black household on Grimmauld Place.

Regulus woke up in a blank space. He sat up straight and confusedly looked around. What had happened to him? He was with Kreacher only a minute ago . . . did he die? He had assumed that he would die, but did he? Regulus looked around a little worriedly.

"What's wrong Regulus?" Regulus's eyes widened at the voice. His eyes started gathering tears, but it couldn't be her voice . . . there was no way . . . "Didn't think you were going to die from that Inferi?"

"V-Vanessa?" Regulus asked hesitantly.

He faced the figure which slowly faded in front of him. She had not changed from her physical appearance from when he saw her last. The cuts had disappeared, and she had returned to her normal silhouette before she had become pregnant. Her hair was curly and well-kept again; her face was bright and happy, and Vanessa wore a half-smile on her face with her arms folded across her chest.

"Hi honey," she greeted him. He stood up and ran to her, embracing her tightly. Tears streamed down his face as Regulus buried his head in her hair which smelled of roses and vanilla like it used to. They stood in the embrace for what seemed to be a lifetime. Regulus didn't want to let her go, fearing that this might be a dream. "Regulus, I know that I died giving birth and all . . . but, you _can _let go of me now." He chuckled and reluctantly broke from the hug.

"Sorry," he said wiping of his face.

"It's alright," Vanessa said, "I expected it."

**Fin**

**...... Please don't hate me for the long wait.**

**~ Mysterious Victoria **


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